ambershelf's Reviews (1.3k)

While his parents struggle with English, Tiến doesn't have the words to describe what he's going through in Vietnamese. Their common language is their love for fairytales & each other. I love that this GN doesn't rely on the familiar Asian immigrant tropes to tell a story of love and belonging. The children's inner struggles with what to tell & not to tell their parents is another heartening aspect I adore. This quote from Tiến's mom contemplating leaving her mom back in Vietnam also moved me to tears: "Was it worth the last eight years of my mother's life? And what sort of daughter does that make me?"

“I had my own immature ideas based on sentimental Hollywood dramas of how it should be between father and son. And made no effort to understand my father on his own terms. Now that I know how much we have in common, what i regret, most of all, is the fact that we could’ve been friends.”

Thank you to harperbooks for the gifted ARC

In this debut short stories collection blending GET OUT and BLACK MIRROR, Key explores race and class in settings spanning the industrial prison complex to hospitals. WASN'T READY focuses on the lives of Black Americans in the near future, combining science fiction, horror, and fantasy.

In The Perfection of Theresa Watkins, a Black widower uses a new technology to download his Black wife's consciousness into a white woman's body. Key explores the ethics of cheating death and getting consent in an extreme power imbalance.

Spider King examines the unexpected consequences when an inmate agrees to an experimental study for early release. There's quite a lot of body horror. For those sensitive to spiders, you might want to skip this one because it gets pretty graphic

Thank you to Riverhead Books for the gifted ARC

After smog covers the world and kills most crops, a chef escapes her dying career to work in a mountaintop colony established by the ultra-rich. Her mysterious employer & ambitious daughter have built a lush community that allows the chef to rediscover the joy of food, love, and passion, even as something more sinister looms.

O!M!G! What is there not to love about LAND